Summer in the Alps

Once the winter is over, the flocks of tourists and workers leave the Alps for another year and head back to their lives back home, but the Alps don’t stay like a ghost town for long. Before long the Alps are bustling again with people coming to enjoy all that they have to offer in the summer and with average temperatures of mid to high 20’s it really is an awesome place to be.

So what can you do in a ski resort when all the snow has melted? The answer is, plenty.

Walking

We all know that the scenery in the mountains is amazing, but imagine being able to walk freely around where meters of snow usually sits. The resorts look completely different when the snow has melted and everything is green. Like with ski pistes there are easier and harder walks to suit everyone’s needs and abilities and the lifts are open throughout July and August which makes getting up to the best views a lot quicker and easier.

Biking

You may have seen bikes on the pistes during the winter, which is a bit crazy, but you are more likely to see them the summer.   There are some amazing mountain bike trails through the trees  in ski resorts and the rolling pistes make for a really fun ride. In the Portes du Soleil region of France alone there is over 300 miles of marked trails, so definitely enough to keep you busy. You are probably wondering how you get you bikes back up the mountain once you have rode down….during the summer months the lift company adapt the lifts to enable them to carry bikes and the great thing is, if you had a winter seasons pass, it will usually valid for the summer months as well!

Golf

When you see the snow start to melt at the end of the season, all you can see is slush and mud, its hard to believe that once you get into July and August those muddy pistes will be transformed into the perfect green. The Alps is home to some of the most spectacular golfing green’s in the world with incredible scenery.

Rafting

If golf is too much of a contrast from skiing the powder fields, you might be more suited to white water rafting. Due to the huge amount of snow that melts in the spring, the Alps have some of the best rivers for white water rafting in the world. Whether you are a new or experienced rafter, you are sure to find something to push you to your limits and there is no where more beautiful to do it.

Rock Climbing

If rock climbing is your thing, there is no shortage of places to go in the Alps. Rock climbing is huge in France, with many indoor climbing walls available for use in the winter and 1000’s of great outdoor climbs to do in the spring and summer months. The Alps are very well equipped for climbers and with 100’s of guidebooks out there, the best climbs are easy to find.

Skiing

For those of you that just cant go the 7 or 8 months break between winter seasons without donning a pair of skis, you will be happy to know that summer skiing is possible. In fact, summer skiing is very popular and with glaciers at over 2500m the conditions can be amazing. Resorts such as Tignes, Hintertux and Sass-Fee are a few of the resorts that benefit from having a glacier. With most glacier resorts closing at 2pm before the snow gets too slushy and choppy, it means you have the afternoon’s to enjoy one of the other activities we have discussed.

All in all, the Alps are not just a winter location and you can see why many of the New Gen team choose to settle here all year round!